India’s BRICS Hosting a Success, Helped Build Consensus: US Analyst

Source: The Economic Times | Original Published At: 2026-09-14 10:29:00 UTC

Key Points

• India hosted the 18th BRICS Summit under its chairmanship from September 12 to 13 in New Delhi.
• BRICS countries unanimously adopted the New Delhi Declaration 2026, with participation by leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
• Atlantic Council analyst Michael Kugelman assessed India's hosting as successful, noting that the substantive declaration issued on the first day reflected India's ability to forge consensus among countries with divergent views.
• The declaration expressed concern over unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures, saying such actions distort global trade and violate World Trade Organisation rules.
• The declaration also addressed terrorism, conflict prevention, and peaceful resolution of disputes, with India leading efforts to bridge differences between Iran and the United Arab Emirates over the West Asia conflict.
• Kugelman said the declaration seeks greater intra-BRICS trade and positions BRICS as an alternative to Western-led economic and financial institutions.
• He noted that BRICS operates by consensus rather than unanimity and said he did not expect a strong public reaction from the Trump administration because the United States was not specifically named in the declaration.